Irish Student Archery Association Draft Constitution

Private Ryan

[FONT=&quot]The next post (very long:eek:) is the draft constitution for the ISAA which I submitted to the IAAA today. There is agreement about the general ideas among all the clubs involved in the drafting. There only remains a few small issues which a small work group should not decide on. [/FONT]

1. [FONT=&quot]Quorums for meetings (committee and general)[/FONT]
2. [FONT=&quot]Voting rights of member clubs at General meetings (MOST IMPORTANT)[/FONT]
3. [FONT=&quot]Could we have a registration fee that covers the cost of the IV league prizes and badges[/FONT]
4. [FONT=&quot]A full proofing by people unfamiliar with the subject to ensure clarity[/FONT]

[FONT=&quot]If you (everyone and anyone, past and present) would take the time to read the constitution and make any further suggestions be they content or language related please post them here.

Also it has been suggested that the EGM of the Association should take place in UL with official notice being sent to clubs in GMIT provided the rules are ironed out by then. If anyone has objections to the proposed EGM please let us know as finding an alternative may prove difficult.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Thanks to all whom helped drawing up the draft and hopefully you’ll give it your support in UL.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]
Constitutional Workgroup[/FONT]

Private Ryan

[FONT=&quot]Constitution[/FONT]

The titles, headings and marginal notes in this document are for the purpose of explanations only and do not form any part of this constitution. The singulars shall include the plurals, the masculine shall include the feminine and bodies corporate.
1.Name
1.The name shall be The Student Archery Association
2.Aims and Objectives:
The aims and objectives shall be as follows:
1.To act as a governing body for third level archers
2.To promote and instil an abiding interest in all forms of Archery in Irish third level institutions except for bow hunting.
3.To encourage and nurture the competitive aspect of the sport by means of, but not limited to, intervarsity competitions.
4.The association is affiliated to the IAAA
3.Members:
1.Membership of the Association shall be open to all third level institutions who participate in archery
2.Membership shall be obtained upon submission of a completed application form
3. All members shall be bound by this constitution.
4.Governing Executive Committee:
1.The Association shall have a Governing Executive Committee (The Committee).
2.The Committee shall run the Association on behalf of its members and in accordance with the aims and objectives.
3.The Committee shall consist of only one person from each third level institution which entered an archer in at least half of the previous years IVs except in the case the IAAA Student Representative is a full time student. In this case a 2nd archer from the representatives college will have a position on the committee as the rep does not usually have a vote
4.The committee shall be the management structure of the Association
5.The committee shall meet at their discretion, but at least four times in an academic year.
i.The quorum for such meeting shall be 2/3 of the committee
ii.Although decisions should be arrived at by the consensus of the committee (where possible), committee decisions shall be decided by majority voting.
iii.All committee members are required to attend at least four times a year. Those who fail to fulfil this requirement may be the subject of disciplinary proceedings at the discretion of the committee
6.The Committee shall consist of:
i.Chairperson
ii.Secretary
iii.Public Relations Officer
iv.Children’s Officer v.Webmaster vi.Records officer vii.an ordinary member position for each third level institution who remain un-represented in committee
viii.IAAA Student Rep. that only has a vote in the case of a tie committee. This person will chair, AGM/ EGM.
7.A person shall not hold the same office for more than 2 successive years.
8.The Term of Office of these elected officers shall be one calendar year a. The term of office of the Student rep. is as defined by the IAAA
9.In the case that that there are not enough people from different colleges willing to fill positions on the committee other than ordinary member then a 2nd student from a college will be allowed onto the committee. This person will have no vote in the committee in order to preserve balance and equal representation.
5.Election of the Governing Executive Committee:
1.The committee members shall be democratically elected at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) or at an Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM).
2.Each candidate must be proposed and seconded by other member institutions then voted in by majority vote.
3.The proposed candidate has the right to decline the post if he/she chooses
6.Duties of Governing Executive Committee:
1. a.The Chairperson shall be the chief officer of the Association whose functions include chairing all meetings of the committee.
b.The Chair of any meeting shall have an ordinary vote at committee meetings.
c.The Chairman of the club shall be an ex-officio member of any committee or sub-committee set up by the club
2. a.The Secretary's function shall be to deal with all correspondence and records of the Association.
b.The Secretary keep minutes of all committee meetings, of all general meetings, of the Annual General Meeting or any other meetings relating to the business of the Association when requested by the committee.
c.The Secretary may keep a record of authorisation of expenditure and shall act as a financial advisor to the association.
d.The Secretary shall give notice to all members of the Association's meetings, events and functions.
3. 0.The Children’s Officer shall be responsible for all individuals under 18 who participate in the member clubs
4. 0.The Public Relations Officer shall be responsible for the advertising of all functions of the Association through all means possible.
b.The Public Relations Officer shall deal with external correspondence and maintain records of the contribution outside bodies have had for the Association and to give notice to all members of these contributions.
5. 0.The Records Officer shall keep records of all scores achieved at IV competitions
6. 0.The Webmaster shall maintain the Website for the Association and report all feedback from the site at the next available meeting.
b.The Webmaster shall maintain the E-mail income for the Association and ensure all committee members may view all mail received.
c.The Webmaster will display any articles on our site committee members submit.
7.The Ordinary Committee membershave no fixed directive but are free to assist any other committee member with that member's duties.
i.Each of the Ordinary Committee members shall have the same voting privileges at all Meetings that the rest of the Committee have.
8.Dismissal and Resignation of Committee Members:
1.No member of the committee shall be dismissed from office unless:
i. Written notice of a resolution to seek such a dismissal, signed by 30% of the members of the Association is received 4 working days prior to a general meeting at which such a resolution shall be debated.
ii.2/3s of the Governing Executive Committee may also call a meeting to debate the dismissal of another committee member.
2.A resolution to dismiss a committee member shall be passed by a simple majority voting at the relevant and quadrate meeting.
3.A committee member wishing to resign must submit a letter in writing declaring that intention to resign to the Secretary, who will immediately inform the committee as a whole. The responsibilities of that person shall be delegated to other committee members(s) until a by-election can held to re-elect a new person to the position.
4.The individual charged will be given a chance to plead their case to the committee before voting
9.Meetings:
1.The committee shall convene one Annual General Meeting of all members within each calendar year at a place and time which in their opinion is most acceptable to the general membership
2.The committee shall inform all of, its members of the date and venue of the AGM at least one month before the meeting.
i.The AGM shall be held no later than in the final month of the Academic year where the main committee members will be elected (where possible).
ii.The purpose of the AGM shall be to review the activities and performance of the Club over the previous year and to set targets for the following year and to elect a new committee
3.A quorum of the meeting shall be ½ the Governing Executive Committee members and 2/3 of the member colleges.
4.The business of the AGM shall include elections of relevant Executive Governing Committee as well as annual reports from the outgoing Governing Executive Committee.
5.An Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) shall be convened if:
i.2 member colleges of the Association request such a meeting in writing.
ii.A quorum of the Governing Executive Committee requests such a meeting in writing.
iii.A vacancy on the current committee occurs and there is a need to elect a replacement.
6.Each member club which entered an archer in more than half of the previous year’s competitions has 2 votes. All other member clubs have one vote.
7.At a meeting, a member may propose a resolution relating to the business of the Association. The resolution shall be voted on by a show of hands and a declaration of the IAAA Representative that the resolution is carried (unless a secret ballot is demanded by anymember college) shall be conclusive evidence that the resolution has passed or failed.
8.In the event that the IAAA Rep's resolution (9.7) is challenged, a recount of the votes will be administered in which a number of appropriate people will be appointed by the committee as "tellers" to count the votes. The result will be announced by the IAAA Rep. or the Chairperson (where requested by the general meeting).
9.No resolution may contravene ICAA, IAAA or Fita policy.
10.General:
1.The membership fee for the Association shall be ......
2.Each member of the Association shall be entitled to receive a copy of this Constitution, on demand, free of charge.
3.In joining the Association, members agree to be bound by the rules and regulations of the Association as laid down in this constitution and by the Governing Executive Committee. Members violating these rules and regulations shall be answerable to the committee and may have their membership revoked and no monies refunded, for persistent breaches or extremely serious breaches, as deemed by a majority of the committee. In the event that the committee cannot resolve a dispute with a member(s), the IAAA shall rule on the matter and its decision shall be final.
4.Special committees shall be set up for specific events and shall dissolve on the completion of it’s' task, presenting it report to a higher committee or the members, depending on where the mandate for it to be set up was exercised.
11.Amendments to this Constitution
1.Resolutions on any matter pertaining to the Association for consideration by the AGM shall be in writing and received three weeks before the meeting.
2. Changes to the Constitution can only be effected at an AGM or EGM and then only by two thirds majority of voting members.

Panserborn

I've put this temporarily as a sticky thread so everyone can take a good auld read of it.

When the draft constitution become the constitution I'll sticky that instead.

johnreck

this looks like a very good and fair document. and will hopefully put an end to the shambolic way in which the Iv is run at present, with changes to long standing processes being disregarded and manipulated.
at the very least we may hope that such things that are happening at present may be ended and that the manner in which our IV is run will be fair and even handed to all teams and individuals who partake in it.

Panserborn

Don't know why I didn't spot / ask this before now .................

private ryan wrote:

1.Name
1.The name shall be The Student Archery Association

Are ye dropping the "Irish" bit of the name? As in, "Irish Student Archery Association"?

The Irish-less one is grand but the only thing is that the plaques and badges for the IVs have already been minted and would have to all be redone if ye wanted to change the name.

Private Ryan

Opps big mistake!! But it took a week for someone to notice. I wonder how many have actually read this draft!
I've had a few more emailed suggestions so I'll try to edit the above draft or post the changes below.

Private Ryan

[FONT=&quot]1.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Name[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]The name shall be The Irish Student Archery Association[/FONT]


[FONT=&quot]1.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Governing Executive Committee:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]The Committee shall consist of persons, who where a full time student any time within the previous 3 years, from third level institutions which entered an archer in at least half of the previous year’s Intervarsity League Competitions (IVs)[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]
(From after the records officer it now reads)
[/FONT][FONT=&quot]7.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]The IAAA Student Representative may also attend committee meetings, however will only have a vote in the case of a tie committee. This person will chair, AGM/ EGM[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]8.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]A person shall not hold the same office for more than 2 successive years. [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]9.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]The Term of Office of these elected officers shall be one year.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]a. The term of office of the Student rep. is as defined by the IAAA[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]10.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]In the case that that there is a tie in the elections of the officers extra ordinary member positions can be created[/FONT]

(The election now reads......)
[FONT=&quot]1.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Election of the Governing Executive Committee:[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]1.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]The committee members shall be democratically elected at the Annual General Meeting (AGM) or at an Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM). [/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]2.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Each member institution may put two people up for election. These candidates may run for any number of positions.[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]3.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]Each position shall be decided by a ballot of the attendees at the AGM/EGM[/FONT]
[FONT=&quot]4.[/FONT][FONT=&quot]The proposed candidate has the right to decline the post if he/she chooses[/FONT]



This changes the commitee so that each college is no longer represented on it, but as was pointed out not all college may have someone willing to be on the committee but they can still vote for the candidate which gives them an input
This is a big change so please give your thoughts

HansEbert

and..... done! about membership fees? does this mean that all student archers will have automatic membership to iaaa if they pay these fees?

ruiner

Not unless you set the fees for the ISAA to cover all the fees for the IAAA. You'd still need to affiliate the club, fill out the paperwork and get the individual members to join.

It would work out with the same system except you send in the applications and money through the ISAA.

And you still need to have the club affiliated before members joining the IAAA through that club are allowed to join.

I like the idea of the membership fee being the cost of the end of year prizes. UL have always been left organizing that and it would take some of the pressure off them.

Private Ryan

Mr Potatoe Head (Keith) posted this in the summer of 2004. It is only a draft ( I'd still like to see the old one). The most important thing is that are the changes to this required and does the new draft still have the same goals for the association.
I'll post up the differences to the two later



1 Name of the association:

1.1 The name of the Association shall be (insert name) which shall hereafter be referred to as “The Association”.

2 Aims and Objectives:

2.1 To promote and encourage the development of Irish student archery.

2.2 To provide information for students and institutions on the sport through any
available media and aid in the formation of new clubs.
2.3 To create a forum for discussion of ideas and problems and allow these to be
communicated to the IAAA on behalf of the clubs involved in the
Association.
2.4 To aid the creation of a national student team to compete at international
level.
2.5 To create a standard agreed format for intervarsity competition to be used in
the Intervarsity league.
2.6 To actively seek sponsorship for the league and team in order to provide the
best facilities possible for all involved.

3 Members:

3.1 All members of Archery clubs in Irish third level institutions that are eligible
to shoot in the Intervarsity League are automatically members of the
association


4 Governing Executive Committee:

4.1 The Association shall have a Governing Executive Committee.

4.2 The Committee shall run the Association on behalf of its members and in
accordance with the aims and objectives and in the best interest of the sport.
4.3 Although decisions should be arrived at by the consensus of the committee (where possible), committee decisions shall be decided by majority voting.
4.4 A quorum shall be 2/3s of committee members.

4.5 The Committee shall consist of:
i) Chairperson
ii) Secretary
iii) Treasurer
iv) Webmaster

4.6 The Term of Office of these elected officers shall be one academic year.

4.7 A person shall not hold the same office for more than 2 successive years.

5 Election of the Governing Executive Committee:

5.1 The committee members shall be democratically elected at the Annual
General Meeting (AGM) or at an Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM).
5.2 To seek election to the committee, each candidate must have 2 nominations
by current members of the Association.

6 Duties of Governing Executive Committee

6.1.1 The Chairperson shall be the chief officer of the Association whose functions
include chairing all meetings of the committee and officiating at meetings of
the Association.
6.1.2 The Chair of any meeting shall have an ordinary vote at committee meetings
and meetings of the association. In the event of a tied vote on any matter he/she shall have the casting vote.
6.1.2 The Chair shall be the Associations representative with IAAA, in the case the
chair cannot represent the Association he/she shall nominate another member to do so.

6.2.1 The Secretary's function shall be to deal with all correspondence and records of the Association.
6.2.2 The Secretary keep minutes of all committee meetings, of all general meetings, of the Annual General Meeting or any other meetings relating to the business of the Association when requested by the committee.
6.2.3 The Secretary may keep a record of authorisation of expenditure.

6.2.4 The Secretary shall give notice to all members of the Associations meetings, events and functions.
6.2.5 The Secretary shall act as the Public Relations Officer in the organisation of fund raising events and sponsorship where necessary.

6.3.1 The Treasurer's function shall be to administer the funds of the Association and to maintain accounts and budgets.
6.3.2 The Treasurer shall be responsible for the maintenance of accounts subject to the decisions of the committee.
6.3.3 The Treasurer shall keep full records of income and expenditure of the Association. The Treasurer shall also keep a record of who authorised various expenditures and shall issue receipts.

6.4.1 The Webmaster shall be responsible for the creation and maintenance of the Associations website.


7 Dismissal and Resignation of Committee Members

7.1 No member of the committee shall be dismissed from office unless:
i) Written notice of a resolution to seek such a dismissal, signed by 10% of the members of the Club is received 4 working days prior to a general meeting at which such a resolution shall be debated.
ii) 2/3s of the Governing Executive Committee may also call a meeting to debate the dismissal of another committee member.
7.2 A resolution to dismiss a committee member shall be passed by a simple majority voting at the relevant and official meeting.
7.3 A committee member wishing to resign must submit a letter in writing declaring that intention to resign to the Secretary, who will immediately inform the committee as a whole. The responsibilities of that person shall be delegated to other committee members(s) until a by-election can held to re-elect a new person to the position.

8 Meetings

8.1 There shall be an Annual General Meeting (AGM) held each year.

8.2 The AGM shall be held no later than in the final month of the Academic year where the main committee members will be elected (where possible).
8.3 Elections for the offices of the Governing Executive Committee shall take place at this meeting.
8.4 A quorum of the meeting shall be 2 Governing Executive Committee members and 10% of the ordinary membership
8.5 The business of the AGM shall include elections of relevant Executive Governing Committee as well as annual reports from the outgoing Governing Executive Committee (which should include a Treasurer's report on the finances of the Association).
8.6 An Extra-ordinary General Meeting (EGM) shall be convened if:
i) 10% of the ordinary membership of the Club requests such a meeting in writing.
ii) A quorum of the Governing Executive Committee requests such a meeting in writing.
iii) A vacancy on the current committee occurs and there is a need to elect a replacement.
8.7 Elections for the offices of the Governing Executive Committee shall take place at the AGM or EGM (where relevant).
8.8 Notice of all meetings shall be given to the membership at least 5 working days prior to the date of the meeting.
8.9 At a meeting, a member may propose a resolution relating to the business of the Association. The resolution shall be voted on by a show of hands and a declaration of the Chairperson that the resolution is carried (unless a secret ballot is demanded by any 5 members) shall be conclusive evidence that the resolution has passed or failed.

9 General

9.1 In the event of a clash with the IAAA Constitution, the IAAA Constitution shall take precedence above this constitution and is subject to IAAA at all times.
9.2 Decisions made by the Association are to be in the in interest of all the colleges involved and should not go against the rules of their institutions


10 Amendments to this Constitution

10.1 Notice of a proposal to seek an amendment to this Constitution shall be given to the members at least 4 working days prior to the meeting at which such a proposal shall be considered
10.2 A proposal to amend this Constitution must receive the approval of 2/3s of the members present and entitled to vote at the relevant meeting.
10.3 The decision to allow the expansion of the executive committee to include more members in order to allow for the growth of the Association shall be made in the same way as a change of constitution.

Panserborn

Private Ryan wrote:

The Committee shall consist of persons, who where a full time student any time within the previous 3 years

Is this a good idea? This means that people who are not actually involved in the ISAA per se (ie, whos scores will not count in an IV) will have influence on the running of it. I know there are many (including myself) in college clubs that are still with the club after their student years for reasons of coaching, training and the need of a club for IAAA membership, but, for the actual IV league would it not be better to have students running a student organisation?

Maybe I'm reading it wrong, forgivness please if so

Aryzel

johnreck wrote: »

this looks like a very good and fair document. and will hopefully put an end to the shambolic way in which the Iv is run at present, with changes to long standing processes being disregarded and manipulated.
at the very least we may hope that such things that are happening at present may be ended and that the manner in which our IV is run will be fair and even handed to all teams and individuals who partake in it.

I'd almost find that insulting, except well all organisations are run in a shambolic way, profession or amature, large or small. Its not rules that make things run smoothly its people stepping up to accept responsiblity (don't wait for a title, they don't matter).

There are no long standing processes in uni archery, at least none that i ever noticed in my time. Also a long standing process doesn't not necessarly deserve to be respected just because it is a long standing process. Judge whether it is useful or not instead.

Renegade_Archer

Jesus John, you've been in IV archery for around 10 minutes, and this is your last season. Pissing all over the hard work of one the league's most unsung heroes is pretty poor form.

Dermot stepped up and did the thankless job of collecting and publishing the scores since the very beginning of the current[1] IV league. His work is continued today by MiCS. The scores don't magically appear on the UCD website. We have rules to work on today because pretty much Dermot came up with them in the first place.

How has the league ever been run in a "shambolic" manner? Only once so far has the league ever had to deal with a team operating outside the rules, and that was done in a consistent and fair manner.

Student sports suffer from the fact that it's new faces every 4 years, and every new generation think they're the first to come up with something. We've been bandying about with the idea of a "proper" association since at least some point in 2004, maybe earlier.



1: We're not the first. There was an IV archery league back in the 80s / early 90s, judging from the archival pics on the UCD website and talking to people like Paul Burke / Emmanuel O'Dea.

SonicTheBadger

Well said dermot. Bit harsh in fairness john. A lot of work went into forming the original constitution and it worked fine until people started tampering with it.
If its not broken don't fix it. it even prompted a rare appearance from dermot....who put in a lot of work at the start of IV's and im sure isn't impressed with phrase like "shambolic" being bandied about..
People should take the time to try and organise and run an intervarsity event or a club before they start criticising how they are run. its not easy and if it looks easy it means whoever was organising it did a good job.
Theres a personnel change at the moment, a lot of old heads going out and new ones coming in, theres always going to be a bit of a rocky transition. Give it a chance, no improvements will be found without experimentation.

Private Ryan

SonicTheBadger wrote: »

........A lot of work went into forming the original constitution and it worked fine until people started tampering with it. If its not broken don't fix it. .........

Perhaps the reasoning for deciding to change the constitution was not made clear here.
The IAAA has requested the constitution and rules of the ISAA so it was decided to set up workgroups on each. The where a bouts of the old constitution was unknown until recently (when I did find a draft I posted it on this thread immediately). Therefore the intention of the new constitution is not to tamper with the old; you cannot tamper with something you don't have. Apologies if people thought that we were just casting aside the old constitution. The old one is not broken it just fell by the way side and stopped being followed.
A lot of work has been put into the new draft and it is what will be put forward for ratification at the EGM in UL(the latest version to follow). But now that all the wise heads have returned to give their advice with the rules perhaps ye can give constructive criticism of the new constitution. The big question is, does the new draft set the same ethos for the association as the old one did?

johnreck

I have nothing but respect for those who have previously and some who continue to work hard at maintaing the iv.
In regards to my statement re the running of the leauge i was refering to the manner in which the previous constitution and rule have been walked over this year. ie rule changes mid season in relation to team scores that will now be changed back to original format next season
the fact that private ryan has taken the time and considerable effort to draft a new constitution and hopefully put an end to the bull **** of this year can only be a good thing.
He is only to be congratulated and thanked for his work.
my hope is that this constitution will be passed at the EGM in Limerick
and the manipulation and frankly unsporting changes that have been introduced for this season will no longer be a feature of student intervarsity archery.
if i gave the impression that i was being critical of those who have worked hard to draft previous rules and a constitution that maintain our Iv I truly say i am sorry.
what i hope for is that from now on with a regularised and accepted constitution that rule changes and IV formats etc will no longer be changed without due and fair consideration given to all involved..

Aryzel

Ok, that seems about right. I'd tidy it up but I'm getting too tired, and well ye should be able to get the general idea of what I'm getting at. Its up to yourselves to decided what ye want to do.

Besides I've a similar issue to solve in another organisation I'm involved in and a 20 page essay to write on Molecular Astrophysics in the next 15 hours (at least 3-4 of which i should probably spend asleep).

I'll try to check in here for the next few days if ye want me to clarify anything.

HansEbert

Wow.... i now realise why ppl want dermot back...

Panserborn

Since the thread relating to the newer version of the constitution is here: http://www.boards.ie/vbulletin/showthread.php?t=2055257639

.... I'm closing this thread in order to stop any confusion as to which thread to post comments in.